News read by

Remember Geethanjali Ayer? I interviewed someone last week who reminded me of Geethanjali Ayer. That set off an avalanche of wistful nostalgia.

“This is ole India radio. The news read by Geethanjali Ayer”
“This is ole India radio. The news read by Lotika Ratnam”

Then there was television! Here are some of my favorite news casters from old times.

Rini Simon was one of the best, later changed her name to Rini Khanna. She could have gotten married or the opposite.

Neetu Ravindran had the best accent of all. Free flowing, polished, st xaviers , colonial. She grew a fascinating mole on her nose too. Anyone who listened to her will fall in love with desi accent.

Komal GB Singh My childhood fantasies about older wimmen revolved around the lovely Komal GB Singh. I loved watching her read, but I seldom listened to her.

My brother and I would stay up late to watch the best news program of all “The World this week”. It was 10 years ahead of its times - with its stunning title jingles to the way they presented world stories. Remember Appan Menon reporting from Golan heights? Man that guy was fantastic. Even the international advertisements were refreshing. Cathey Pacific, MasterCard, JCT Fabrics, Gillette.

There were more - Tejeshwar Singh, Minu, Usha Albuquerque, Sunit Tandon, Sukanya and the unknown poor souls who were made to read Parliament news.

Of all of them, Neetu Ravindran was my favorite. Who was yours ?

Good bye Mr.Buchwald

While in school, there were days when the only thing I went to library for was to read ‘The Hindu’. I went to read the last page where Art Buchwald had his regular column. It was a pleasant ritual. It took me some time to get hooked to his style of satire. But once I got the taste, I was an addict. The man was brilliant, and never disappointed me. Mr.Buchwald’s column was the greatest social service N Ram had done to us.

Today I heard on radio that Art Buchwald passed away. I went online and saw this self obituary on New York times “Hi, I am Art Buchwalt and I just died”.

For all those great columns you gave us, Good bye Mr.Buchwald, Good bye.

Despite what you think

Despite what you think you know, I have some news for you:

*Not all Indians in US are gas station owners. Some of them run 7-11 stores too.

*In real life the Hindi actor with a 9mm hand-gun is NOT going to win a shootout against six guys with machine guns, no matter how much muscle he's got. He's gonna look like swiss-cheese in real life.

*Not all school teachers look like Bhanu Priya or Julia Roberts. Lorry drivers dont look like Anil Kapoor either.

*If Larry King is a serious journalist, I'm a jet pilot. The only person I can think of with less talent is my neighbors' wife who still hasn't figured out how to put off her car alarm.

*If you think James Bond is an arrogant bastard and a sexist womanizer who look relaxed in his adventures, wait till you see our poor man's Amitab Bachan - Jitendra.

So what is the moral of the story?

Mustang V-8

My colleague let me drive his new Mustang which has a soup-ed up V-8 with enough power to fling you through the window if you are not tethered to the seat upon take off. I really enjoyed the drive, specially using the clutch and stirring the gear box by hand. I believe that real driving must involve 'clutching' and 'gearing'. Auto transmission is for wimmen. Putting an auto transmission on a baby like Mustang would be like chopping the nuts off a very horny camel. The animal may look the same, but his Arab master is going to be one unhappy customer.

Talking about automatic transmission, most of us learned to drive on an Ambassador, with stick shift. It is a skill that once you learn you will never forget. But many people around here have never driven a vehicle with manual transmission. You give them a REAL car with gear shift and a clutch and they are screwed.

That brings me to the question, Do you prefer stick-shift or automatic ?

iPhone

Steve Jobs stole the thunder today at CES2007 announcing the much awaited iPhone. I just looked up the gadget on apple’s website. Hoochie mama !! It looks so sleek and pretty that it sure is going to be a fashion. I don’t understand what is it about Steve Jobs that make these cool products look so tempting. If I were Narayana Murthy, I would hire the kid.

God's own son

If you thought that God is spending all his precious time talking to K Karunakaran, think again. Pat Robertson announced yesterday that he too is talking to God. He says, Lord told him that there is going to be a massive terrorist attack in US towards the end of 2007. “No, it isn’t nuclear, coz God didn’t say it’s going to be nuclear”


Considering the special relationship Pat has with the almighty God, I wonder what else God told him. So I am going to subscribe to his cable television show where he appears occasionally to share messages he receives from God with his audience. The only thing I want to know from God is about my prospects of buying a home here. So Patji, if you are still hearing voices ask God whether the real estate market in the Bay Area will bust big time anytime soon. I am tired of the speculation. I would like to know the truth from The Supreme Authority himself.